Over the last week, my children asked me two questions that were particularly difficult to answer. They asked me to explain Schroedinger’s cat, which theoretically until you open the box, is both alive and dead. They also asked why we haven’t recently heard predictions on a range of possibility for the end of the Covid19 pandemic. Remember when the experts used to tell us: best case scenario, it’ll be better in two weeks, more realistically a month or two, pessimistically, it could be six months or more? It’s been a while since they gave even that modicum of hope for an endpoint in sight. I’m pretty sure my answers in the moment resolved neither of these concerns. But maybe Torah can shed some light on the situation.
This week’s Torah reading, Nitzavim-Vayelech is a double parsha, two short sections that can be read on their own, but often are read together in one week. Though there is not a lot of movement between one parsha and the next, each has its own character, its own message. As they have been throughout the book of Devarim, Deuteronomy, the Israelite people are camped on the banks of the Jordan River. And Moses, as he has been, is speaking to them, filling them full of everything they’ll need to understand before they go into the land of Israel without him.
Nitzavim emphasizes the great responsibility that the Israelites bear as they cross into the promised land. They are standing on the precipice, about to begin building a new society, intended to be a principled and just society, in a new home. Their success in conquering the land and their ongoing prosperity depend on their own choices, and their commitment to fulfilling this vision. Nitzavim emphasizes the choice. In the future lie both a blessing and a curse. In the words of Deuteronomy 30:15, “See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity.” Whether they get the blessing or the curse is dependent on following the mitzvot, sticking to the plan, making responsible choices, rather than selfish ones. Moses reminds the people that the mitzvot are not up in the heavens or across the sea. They are right here in the people’s mouths and hearts.
For the moment, it must seem to the Israelites that they are gazing across the river at Schroedinger’s box, (though of course, Schroedinger himself didn’t think of the box until centuries later.) Something is over there. In fact both things are over there. But we won’t know which one we get until we go find out whether we have the integrity being demanded of us. Later, (30:19), Moses urges them, “uvacharta bachayim, choose life.” But as we move into parshat Vayelech, the second part of our double parsha, the change in tone suggests that Moses and even God, acknowledge that the choice is not that simple.
The key words of Vayelech are chazak v’ematz, chizku v’imtzu, be strong and courageous. They are spoken three times, once by Moses to the people, once by Moses to Joshua, who is stepping into the primary leadership role, and finally by God to Joshua. What sounded like a simple choice a few verses earlier, (choose life!), now seems more fraught. It seems God and Moses are worried that like Schroedinger, the Israelites will not want to open the box, preferring to live with the possibility of both outcomes rather than risk disaster. This parsha acknowledges the unspoken third choice, to do nothing, instead remaining frozen in fear.
My friends, as we find ourselves now, in the second half of Elul, the moon waning ever closer to Rosh Hashanah, we also stand on the precipice, of a new Jewish year, a new school year, an opportunity to begin rebuilding our communities and society with care, justice and integrity. Focus has shifted from best case / likely case / worst case scenarios, the kind that predict for us how afraid we should be and how long we will stay that afraid, because the time for just waiting it out in fear and isolation has passed. As we enter this new year, we must acknowledge that we need to resume living, rebuilding carefully and responsibly, finding ways for people to do their jobs and connect with family, friends and community, and attend to both physical and mental health, education and culture.
My kids learned about Schroedinger’s cat in a children’s book on physics. When they asked my father, with his PHD in theoretical physics, to explain how the cat was both alive and dead, he said something like, “Yeah, that’s a theory Schroedinger came up with to help him understand some other things he was thinking about, but really, the cat’s can’t be alive and dead at the same time.” This made a whole lot more sense than Schroedinger, but it only makes sense for things that have already happened. As we head into the new year, and the next stage of this pandemic and our response to it, we must choose well, choose life, and we must be strong and courageous. Yes, we’re in it for the long haul, but the answer is not in the heavens or across the sea. It is in our hands, our mouths and our hearts.